(The title is the phonetic translation of
the Italian words in the dialect of Emilia-Romagna, the birthplace of
director Federico Fellini, where the film takes place. It means "I
remember')

Italy 1973

In this carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the Fascist
period, Federico Fellini's most personal film satirizes his youth and turns
daily life into a circus of social rituals, adolescent desires, male
fantasies, and political subterfuge, all set to Nina Rota’s classic,
nostalgia-tinged score. The Academy Award-winning Amarcord remains
one of cinema's enduring treasures.

****

Fellini at his ripest and loudest recreates a fantasy-vision of his home
town during the fascist period. With generous helpings of soap opera and
burlesque, he generally gets his better effects by orchestrating his
colorful cast of characters around the town square, on a boat outing, or at
a festive wedding. When he narrows his focus down to individual groups, he
usually limits himself to corny bathroom and bedroom jokes, which produce
the desired titters but little else. But despite the ups and downs, it's
still Fellini, which has become an identifiable substance like salami or
pepperoni that can be sliced into at any point, yielding pretty much the
same general consistency and flavor.

Edition Details:
• Audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank
Burke • American
release trailer • Deleted
scene • Optional
English-dubbed soundtrack • New
and improved English subtitle translation • New
45-minute documentary, Fellini’s Homecoming, on the complicated
relationship between the celebrated director, his hometown, and his past
• Video
interview with star Magali NoŽl • Fellini’s
drawings of characters in the film • “Felliniana,”
a presentation of ephemera devoted to Amarcord from the collection of
Don Young • Audio
interviews with Fellini, his friends, and family by Gideon Bachmann • New
restoration demonstration • PLUS:
A book featuring a new essay by scholar Sam Rohdie, author of Fellini
Lexicon, and the full text of Fellini’s 1967 essay, “My Rimini"

Edition Details:• Audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank
Burke
• American
release trailer
• Deleted
scene
• Optional
English-dubbed soundtrack
• New
45-minute documentary, Fellini’s Homecoming, on the complicated
relationship between the celebrated director, his hometown, and his past
(44:18)
• Video
interview with star Magali NoŽl (15:35)
• Fellini’s
drawings of characters in the film
• “Felliniana,”
a presentation of ephemera devoted to Amarcord from the collection of
Don Young
• Audio
interviews with Fellini (30:41), his friends, and family (59:03) by Gideon Bachmann
• New
restoration demonstration
• 66-page book featuring a new essay by scholar Sam Rohdie, author of Fellini
Lexicon, and the full text of Fellini’s 1967 essay, “My Rimini"

Blu-ray
Release Date: February 8th, 2011Cardboard case with open Digipak slipcase and booklet

Chapters
2

5

Comments

NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.

ADDITION:
Criterion Region 'A'
Blu-ray:
January 2011:
The Criterion editions -
from the original non-anamorphic
DVD to the Reissue package and
now the 1080P edition - all,
predictably, improve from the
previous release. Colors are
modestly richer - there appears
to be more information in the
frame and, most notably, any
distracting artefacts prevalent
on the SD transfers are
eliminated. Grain is, in many
scenes, more prevalent and adds
a nice texture to the image.
Overall, I expect this is as
good as Fellini's Amarcord
will ever look for your home
theater indulgence.

Criterion include the previous
English DUB as an option. In all
my viewings of Amarcord -
I have only ever, briefly,
sampled it and much prefer the
original Italian - which is the
only track on the Blu-ray
that is lossless. It is
transferred in a linear PCM mono
track that has some perceived
depth and is technically
superior to the SD's standard
Dolby renderings.
There are optional English subtitles
(see sample below)
and, predictably, my Momitsu
has identified
the disc as being a region 'A'-locked.

Extras duplicate
the Reissue DVD (detailed below)
with the highly interesting
Brunette and Burke
commentary, the galleries and
the
included 66-page book
featuring a new essay by scholar
Sam Rohdie, author of
Fellini Lexicon, and the full text of Fellini’s 1967 essay, “My
Rimini".

This title has
come pretty far through the
Criterion distribution system in
almost 13-years. If you love the
film, one of Fellini's most
personal, then this upgrade is
an important option - one I
doubt you will regret once you
have an HD presentation of
Amarcord in the comfort of
your home. Absolutely
recommended!

***

ADDITION: Criterion
(REISSUE) - August 06' -
Criterion's original release of Amarcord
(the phonetic translation of the Italian words 'mi ricordo' in
the dialect of Emilia-Romagna, the birthplace of director Federico
Fellini, where the film takes place. It means "I remember" in
English) was one of their first 10 DVDs - way back in 1998. It was
actually spine #4 - non-anamorphic and may not have even been
progressively transferred. It desperately needed updating. In the
interim Warner (in both France and Germany) put out anamorphic PAL DVD
packages that were an improvement.

How it looks - to
compare I watched about 15 minutes of the same scene of each of the four
discs on a plasma system and the Criterion is definitely the better
edition image-wise. It has far less artifacts - colors are
brighter (I don't necessarily know that they are more accurate -
although they certainly look more true to my eye). The screen captures
that seem to best identify this superiority and the very last ones (see
below) - look at the pink/mauve in the flag and the blue sky (upper
right). Also the first capture - the lady at the right in the white
sweater and blue blazer. The Criterion has improved immensely from its
initial release with a strong anamorphic, progressive upgrade.
Probably the most noticeable difference is how much cleaner it is - and
slightly sharper. There is some movement in the frame (picture from the
original Criterion has shifted left a bit at times) but any observed
cropping was not an issue. The Criterion also has the highest bitrate of
the four editions. On the Criterion website it states:

'This new high-definition digital
transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm interpositive.
Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using
the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality
through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9
was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of
material included. The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a magnetic
track print...'

The off-white-black-bordered subtitle font
on the Criterion is the most appealing to me. It is large enough to be
easily read (the Warners were a shade on the small side) and not as
large an cumbersome as on the original release.

How it sounds
- the Criterion track again adds an optional English DUB - the European
Warner DVDs offer different selections of language DUBs as well. The
REISSUE Criterion audio sounded very clear and consistent to me. It
states on their website:

'The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit
from a magnetic track print, and audio restoration tools were used to
reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle.'

Supplements - well the Criterion
have vastly exceeded their competitors yet again. The Brunette and Burke
commentary is excellent - very thorough and interesting. Although
alternately named there is one overlap featurette with the French
edition (see Magali NoŽl capture), but Criterion add so much more
including a book featuring a new essay by scholar Sam Rohdie, author of
Fellini Lexicon, and the full text of Fellini’s 1967 essay, “My
Rimini". I won't discuss the other features in detail as discovering
them is a joy - but personally I really enjoyed 'Fellini’s Homecoming'.

NOTE: For the audio commentary menu on the Criterion
REISSUE they list film scholar Frank Burke affiliated with "Queen's
College, Ontario". That should read "Queen's University,
Kingston, Ontario."

Conclusion: the
Criterion package is another beautiful keepsake and it is the one to own
for just about every reason I can think of. Only the issue of color
variances from the other three would crop up as a negative if
I could verify it - which I cannot. It looks greatly improved - the
extras are endless - a devastating digital tribute.

- Gary W. Tooze

***

ADDITION: Warner (French) - June - 2005 - Firstly there are
differences between this and the 2 PAL Warner's in film portion, but the
image seems to be the exact same. There are differences in subtitle and
audio DUB options (noted above). If my contribution sources are correct
the UK/German is region 2,5 and the French 2,4,5.

Upon reflection,
and some extensive zooming in, I notice some edge enhancement on the
non-anamorphic Criterion - meaning the colors of the Warner are probably
more accurate. To my eye though the Warner does look a little vertically
stretched and is still slightly cropped next to the Criterion. The big
bonus' of the French DVD are the valued featurette extras on the second
disc - all with English subtitles. Regardless of our continued debate on
the image the French DVD is a must own for Fellini fans.

***

There is negligible
cropping - by Criterion on the left and top edges and by the Warner on the
bottom and right edges. The Criterion is sharper than the anamorphic
Warner. The Warner looks to have deeper blacks and better contrast. I
would say as colors are only minutely different (the Warner haze may
affect appearance - Criterion ocean looks greener- walls look browner), that the sharpness would be the deciding factor. It is
enough in this case to chose the Criterion. It is possible that widescreen
and projection viewers may notice a benefit to owning the Warner, but it
would really depend on the specifics of the system. As it stands the
Criterion has the best image. I prefer the less intrusive font of the
Warner. The Warner also has more subtitle and dub options. if this is
important. The Criterion restoration demo is interesting and beats out the
Warner trailer. Both menus seem a little gaudy, but there you go. Even
though the Criterion was only there 4th via spine number and came out in
98', and is not anamorphic, I would still say it is the edition to own.
Price may be a consideration, but the Criterion is still sharpest.